The Heritage of the Christian By Lucy Kirkpatrick, ARP Magazine Intern I


n the American South, heritage is a big deal. Where a person comes from and who they’re related to largely contrib- ute to individual identities. For Protestants, Reformation Sunday is a kind of heritage day; we get to remember not only where we came from but how our faith came to be practiced. It’s probably the one day throughout the year that


children are familiar with the name Martin Luther and the one day throughout the year where sausage becomes the main dish at the church covered dish meal. To those of us belonging to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, however, Reformation Sunday had a second layer of heritage. Gathering at Ebenezer ARP Church in Jenkinsville, South Carolina for a special mid-day service, a number of ARP church members returned to the Old Brick Church where the Synod of the Carolinas first gathered in the early nineteenth century. As Rev. Gregory C. Slater remarked, “We are here to celebrate our heritage as Associate Reformed Presbyterians and as Children of the King.” Throughout the service, that heritage was truly celebrated. Focusing attention on the One who has given us reason for celebration, hymns taken from Psalms 18 and 148 rang from the voices of multiple generations through the open windows and out into the surrounding woods. Led by the Centennial ARP Choir, the offertory hymn, “The Lord is my Shepherd” by Tomas Koschat, was yet another reminder of the sufficiency of the Lord and of His great providence for the Church and for the collection of Presbyterians within the walls of the Old Brick Church. In the sermon, Rev. Slater preached through I Peter 2:4-12, reminding all those who heard that we are the objects of God’s sovereign grace. Just as the Old Brick Church was built as a house of worship and stands, 231 years later, as a testimony to the faith of our spiritual forefathers, the Church stands firm with Christ serving as both the cornerstone and capstone—foundation and pinnacle—for the purpose of glorifying the Living God. The identity of a Christian is to be solely found in giving glory to God. This we can do by fulfilling our callings as students, educators, businessmen, athletes, and artists. As the Heidelberg Catechism proclaims in its first question, the Christian’s “only comfort in life and death” is that he is “not [his] own, but belong[s] with body and soul, both in life and in death, to [his] faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” So, while the heritage of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church may be in a calmingly simple brick church, and the heritage of the Protestant may be in the actions of the Reformers, the heritage of the Christian is in the glorious triumph of Christ.?


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